The former combatants of the Colonial War will go on hunger strike in front of the Palace of Belém from August 20 to demand compliance with the Statute of the Former Combatant, one of the organizers told Lusa today.
Despite having met this afternoon with the Minister of Defense, the former combatants decided to maintain the strike, which they had already announced, because they had not reached any agreement, said the leader of the Pro Dignity Commission of the Former Combatant Statute (EAC), José Maria Monteiro.
“The meeting was a deep disappointment because the minister said she was going to improve the statute, but she did not specify how, nor with how much,” he said.
Among the various demands, the ex-combatants advocate free public transport on all national transport, priority access to military hospitals and the granting of a war pension, he specified.
The former combatants who will go on hunger strike are aged between 70 and 86 and are resident across the country.
The Minister of Defense said today that an evaluation of the Statute of the Former Combatant is underway to deepen it, rejecting that 50% of the cards are still to be distributed, as indicated by these former combatants of the Colonial War.
She stressed that her ministry is “doing work, within the framework of the technical unit of former combatants, to evaluate the Statute of the Former Combatant, which is still being consolidated”.
“We have more than 400,000 former combatant cards issued, which is 95% of that universe. It is not certain, as was said, that it would be 50%. It is a work that is practically completed, such as the sending of the insignia of the former combatant, the implementation of measures that have to do with free access to national monuments, to health areas “, he stressed.
Veterans gather to pay tribute to those who “served our country”.
